Is that a drone hovering near your property line? Drew Porter’s pocket-size radio device for compromising entire smart homes can be effective three or more blocks away from a target. This means that if a burglar can’t physically approach your house because of a camera or an alarm, they can still fly a signal-jamming device into your neighborhood, using an off-the-shelf drone, to switch things off from afar. Drone attacks on the suburbs are already considered enough of a threat that UAV-detection systems can be installed to listen for the telltale whir of tiny rotors.

We caught up with Thomas Heatherwick, eponymous founder of the London-based studio, at the opening of his retrospective exhibition, Provocations, now on view at New York's Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum through Jan. 3.

Even as our favorite high-tech gizmos go wireless, many homes remain tethered to a few key electronics, namely lighting. Without cutting the cord, here are five genius ideas for concealing, organizing, and beautifying your tangle of cables.